Let's get nuts.

Watching The LEGO Batman Movie feels like dumping a bag of Dark Knight-flavoured sherbet directly onto your brain. Within the opening ten minutes, Batman faces and foils almost every villain you could possibly name – and more than a few you probably couldn’t – in a spectacular and thrilling action sequence that rivals any found in the live-action Batman movies in terms of sheer excitement and scale.

With Gotham’s worst incarcerated in Arkham Asylum – yet again – Batman retires to Wayne Manor where he microwaves a simple lobster thermidor for one. (Incidentally, watching Batman use a microwave is very funny.) Will Arnett’s Batman is probably the loneliest version of the character to date. This is played for laughs, of course, with Bruce struggling to go out in public without the cowl, but it’s also unexpectedly moving. We see Bruce rattling around his ancestral home, watching romantic comedies, messing about with HDMI feeds, and practicing rad guitar solos alone. There's something genuinely melancholic about watching the Dark Knight eating a ready meal.

Big changes are coming, too. With super-cop Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) taking over from her father, advocating reform over vigilantism, the very idea of Batman is under scrutiny. Meanwhile, the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) – struggling to cope with the idea that Batman doesn’t think of him as his arch-nemesis and frustrated by Gotham’s incompetent villains – hatches a plan to unleash the worst prisoners trapped within the Phantom Zone.

It’s a simple yet brilliant plot, which allows director Chris McKay to take full and greedy advantage of DC’s rich universe – and a few others – to tell a uniquely bonkers but also surprisingly poignant story. There’s lots crammed into this movie, but ultimately it’s about Batman letting himself be part of a family once again.

Although packed with great action and bags of character, The LEGO Batman Movie’s main strength is its frantic sense of humour. Every scene is studded with all types of gags – from smart allusions to silly stuff, sight gags and innuendo. Even if they don’t all quite land, the script is so rapid-fire, you never have to wait long for a decent laugh to come along. That said, I think I could’ve done with less of Batman beat-boxing.

The movie mines its best comedic material from Batman’s relationships with other well-known DC characters, riffing on our pre-existing knowledge of them. In particular, it has a lot of fun playing with the twisted inter-dependence of Batman and the Joker, articulated in the likes of The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight. Here it’s treated as if it was a dysfunctional hook-up, with the Joker heartbroken to discover Bats is ‘seeing’ other villains, and what they have isn’t special. Some of the funniest moments come from when the script taps into wider Batman mythology, and there’s similarly sharp and funny moments to enjoy with Robin, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League.

Arnett’s gravelly tones and deadpan delivery are perfect for this reclusive, grumpy incarnation of the character. LEGO Batman is bit self-absorbed and arrogant – the Dark Knight has never talked so much about his abs – but Arnett ensures he’s vulnerable and still likeable. But the real standout is Michael Cera’s impossibly wide-eyed Robin, whose enthusiasm knows no bounds. He plays the Dick Grayson version of the character, who is accidentally adopted by Bruce Wayne at a charity function.

Before long, Dick stumbles into the Batcave and becomes Robin, wearing the tiniest shorts imaginable for extra mobility. Cera’s performance is bouncy and hilariously naive, while the animation is particularly strong – Robin’s cheery expressions and jam-jar glasses, magnifying the wonder in his eyes, consistently had me in stitches. As with Batman’s relationship with the Joker, the movie revels in making the dynamic between the duo as awkward as possible; it’s a cheeky acknowledgement of the situation’s inherent weirdness, yet the evolution of their relationship still feels authentically sweet and sincere.

Fiennes makes for a superbly dry Alfred, who becomes far more involved in the action than any of his forbears. And Zach Galifianakis delivers a perfectly decent performance as the Joker, without doing anything particularly memorable with the role. He really benefits, however, from some superb character design – the feral Joker look works really well – and some inspired animation. When he discovers Batman doesn’t think of him as ‘the one’, his face crumples, cycling through despair and devastation – it’s heartbreaking and hilarious.

The Verdict

The usually dark world of Batman is reimagined with insane energy and vibrancy. The quality of animation ensures each one of its blocky characters bursts with life and emotion. I particularly love how McKay and his writers have – very much in the spirit of LEGO – mixed-and-matched elements from other Batman stories and adaptations. Danny DeVito’s Penguin colludes with Tom Hardy’s Bane, while Arnett’s Batman quotes Michael Keaton one minute and tips his cowl to Adam West the next. Where else can you see that? It’s a frenetic and joyously unhinged celebration of all things Batman. But it’s so much more than a parody. Beneath its eccentric surface, The LEGO Batman Movie finds a new way to approach these familiar characters. Yes, it’s a great comedy, but it’s a great Batman movie, too.